


No More Than Words

by Tru



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: F/M, Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-25
Updated: 2010-01-25
Packaged: 2017-10-06 17:09:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tru/pseuds/Tru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With no money, how can Gumshoe show Maggey how much he loves her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More Than Words

Gumshoe slumped in his chair, twisting a bit of plastic between his fingers. The ring just fit the tip of his littlest finger, tiny rhinestones glittering against the garish hot pink background. He sighed, then jumped as someone set a paper cup of coffee in front of him.

"Problems, Detective?" Miles Edgeworth said, sitting down across from Gumshoe and sipping his tea.

"M-Mr. Edgeworth, uh, no." Gumshoe tugged frantically at the ring, stuck in place on his fingertip.

"You'll break it," Edgeworth said, leaning across the table. Gumshoe dropped his hands to his lap, then returned them to the table at Edgeworth's raised eyebrow.

"I was... I was just," Gumshoe stammered, but Edgeworth shook his head.

"You wished to give Miss Byrde a present, I assume," he said, reaching down and pulling a small container of hand creme from his briefcase and offering it to the Detective.

The creme was thick, with a light, rich scent, and as Gumshoe slicked his finger to work the ring free, his thoughts burst from his mouth. "It's just that I can't afford to give her nice things. Not the kind of things like you buy for..."

Gumshoe trailed off, freezing under the stare he could feel burning into him. If there was one certain rule with Mr. Edgeworth, it was that no one was to ever speak of the relationship between him and Mr. Wright. He heard Edgeworth inhale, and steeled himself for the inevitable drop in salary that was sure to follow.

"Wright," Edgeworth said, low, and when Gumshoe dared to glance up he saw that the other man was now staring into his tea. "He only accepts the gifts I give him in order to please me. He told me, once..."

Edgeworth fell silent, and the ring finally slid free of Gumshoe's finger. He held it tight in his hand, sure there would be a clear circle etched in his palm when he finally let go.

"He told me," Edgeworth continued, just when Gumshoe had been about to speak, certain that the Prosecutor wouldn't go on, "that there are things more valuable than money."

If Gumshoe hadn't been watching and listening so keenly, he would have missed the small, secret smile that flickered across Edgeworth's mouth, and the faint crinkle of paper as Edgeworth pressed a brief touch against a vest pocket. When Edgeworth looked up, his face was again the calm mask he wore in court.

"Our words and actions can speak volumes more than the trinkets money can buy," Edgeworth said, scooping up his hand creme and rising. "Remember that."

He started to leave, then glanced back. "Oh. Drink your coffee before it gets cold."

He was gone before Gumshoe had the chance to say anything else. He drank his coffee, staring the whole while at the small circle of plastic that lay in his palm.

\---

Gumshoe clutched the small bundle of daisies--plucked with a bumbling attempt at stealth from a nearby park--in one trembling hand. His other hand, shaking more visibly still, rubbed across the stubble on his chin before he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and Maggey stood there smiling, and all the words he'd so carefully rehearsed since his talk with Mr. Edgeworth flew right out of his head. His hand came up, and he pushed the daisies toward Maggey.

"Th-these are for you," he said quickly, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Oh." Maggey's smile flickered for an instant. "Thank you. I-I--" Then she sneezed, turned to the side and sneezed again. "I'm sorry," she said, taking a step back, blinking behind her glasses and sniffling a little, "I'm allergic..."

She sneezed again, and Gumshoe jerked the flowers back as though scalded. "N-no, I should have... I should have known. I didn't--"

"Don't worry about it," Maggey said, voice muffled by the tissue she pressed to her nose. "It's just my bad luck."

"I'll just get rid of these then," Gumshoe said, head lowered.

"No," Maggey cried, catching hold of Gumshoe's sleeve as he turned to go. "I love them, but..." She frowned, obviously thinking, then a sudden smile lit her face. "I can put them on the windowsill outside. Then I can see them, but they won't make me sneeze."

She urged Gumshoe inside, led him to her tiny kitchen as she filled a vase with water and opened the window. "Would you?" she asked, offering the vase.

"Oh, right. Right," Gumshoe said, taking the vase and carefully placing the flowers into it. Water dripped down his arm and up under his sleeve as he tilted the vase to fit it out the tiny window. He slid the glass closed, and felt his shoulders lift as Maggey beamed at him.

"You always turn my luck around," she said, and Gumshoe felt faint heat rise to his cheeks.

"I don't do anything really," he protested, hanging his head again. "Not what you deserve."

Maggey tipped her head to the side. "Is there something on your mind?"

"I just..." Gumshoe sighed, slid his hand into his pocket and felt the cheap, toy ring that was hidden there. All at once, the confidence he'd gathered after talking to Mr. Edgeworth returned. There were things more important than money, and those things he could give Maggey in spades.

"Maggey, you know I don't make a lot of money, so I can't buy you pretty things," he started, only to be interrupted when she laughed.

"Is that all?" She shook her head, smiling at his bemusement. "Even if you could, I'd just lose them, you know."

Gumshoe stared, and then he returned her smile with an exuberant grin, as everything he had planned to say came back to him. "I want to give you something you can't lose, no matter how hard you try.

"I-I love you, Maggey Byrde," he said, taking one of her hands in both of his. "I may only be able to give you those words, but I hope you know that I mean it."

He slipped one of his hands into his pocket, and came out holding the ring between fingers that shook only faintly now. "Maggey, it's only a little thing, so if you lost it I could get another one, though it might not be exactly the same..."

Noticing the tears that filled Maggey's eyes made his voice disappear and his renewed confidence vanish like a snow cone in midsummer. He faltered, but then her fingers tightened around his.

"Just ask," she said, smiling through her tears.

A jerky nod, and then he remembered the formalities to be observed, lowering himself to one knee in the middle of the kitchen floor, pushing the words through the sudden thickness of his throat, "Maggey Byrde, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she said, once, and then again, "Yes." Then she bent, and pressed a warm-sweet kiss to Gumshoe's mouth, closing her hand around the ring he still held, and Gumshoe thought that just maybe they had both been saving all of their luck for this exact moment.


End file.
